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Pete Marovich/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesFederal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke
More than five years after the financial crisis began, many on Wall Street, Main Street and in government at all levels agree there's still much to be done to get the U.S economy back on track.

Yet even the improvements we've already achieved could be derailed by a looming worldwide financial crisis -- a crisis caused by the very economic stimulus policies put in place by the Federal Reserve to help the U.S. get out of its dire economic straits. At least, that's the warning coming from economist Stephen Roach, senior fellow at Yale University's Jackson Institute for Global Affairs.

As the Fed attempts to exit from so-called quantitative easing (QE) -- its unprecedented policy of massive purchases of long-term assets -- many high-flying emerging economies suddenly find themselves in a vise. Currency and stock markets in India and Indonesia are plunging, with collateral damage evident in Brazil, South Africa and Turkey.

Roach goes on to say that the Fed views itself as blameless -- a perspective he feels shows the Federal Open Market Committee to be steeped in denial. The Fed's quantitative easing -- the first round of which began in late 2008 -- pushed interest rates to record-low levels and kept them there, leaving investors to look for other places to park their money and chose emerging economies in search of higher yields.

But as word has spread of the Fed's plan to taper its stimulus, investors have begun pulling money out of those countries' economies, leaving policymakers in them with few other options but to adopt conventional strategies -- such as raising interest rates -- which tend to slow growth.

Should the Fed's policies induce another financial crisis, it won't be the only entity worthy of blame. Roach notes that each of the countries mentioned above is running a huge current account deficit caused by increased imports and too few exports. That's a sure sign "of a pre-crisis economy living beyond its means -- in effect, investing more than it is saving."

Sound familiar? It should. More from Roach:

America's gaping current-account deficit of the mid-2000's was, in fact, a glaring warning of the distortions created by a shift to asset-dependent saving at a time when dangerous bubbles were forming in asset and credit markets.

Developing economies are now feeling the full effect of the Fed's plan to begin rolling back quantitative easing," Roach says. And though politicians in those countries are responsible for failing to keep their own financial houses in order, he says, "the Fed is just as guilty, if not more so, for orchestrating this failed policy experiment in the first place."

So you're seeing a lot of strength in housing, and it's coming from almost every place geographically ... So that's sort of the big winner. Auto and that whole complex is a big winner. They're doing over 15 million cars this year, up from 8.5 at the bottom. And then you have the energy complex, which is really, really a revolution. This is hard to underestimate the impact of energy and all the natural gas that's being produced and all the subsidiary types of things that come from that activity. And if you add on top of that, technology which is still a very big pocket of strength and quite robust in the United States, you've got some really good stuff happening.

On the other hand we do have the U.S. government at work, trying to decrease growth as rapidly as they can. And so they've, unfortunately, had some success in that area, and that leaves us somewhere in the 2%-plus area.

On the positive side, economic fundamentals in the United States continue to improve. The main impediment to growth appears to be the speed and nature of the withdrawal of fiscal stimulus. Debate has actually now opened up on how and when to withdraw some of the monetary expansion. All of this is very good news.

At the same time, the rest of the world looks no stronger. Europe is mired in a recession, Asian growth seems more modest and Japanese attempts to restimulate their economy through monetary stimulation have set off further downward pressure on interest rates and currency values.

The overriding driver of recovery in the housing market remains the underproduction of both single and multifamily product throughout the economic downturn and up to and including this year. Over the past 5 years of housing production, we've built an average of under 700,000 single and multifamily homes total per year, with an average obsolescence rate of approximately 300,000 per year. This compares to a need for new dwelling units per year of between 1.2 million and 1.5 million.

This year, a significantly stronger year of building activity, we will produce approximately 950,000 single and multifamily dwellings, and again, will underserve the country's needs. We have more than absorbed the overbuilding of the early to mid-2000s, and have been underproducing for a protracted period of time. This shortfall will have to be made up, and the builders of both multi and single-family products have been pushing to increase production.

I think when you look at some of the economic indicators, housing starts are up, prices are up on housing. I think housing is a really important measure for us because we have a lot of jobs around that. A lot of contracting roofers, et cetera, around that. All of that is positive. And so we're feeling like we're coming off the end of the year with some momentum, and that will certainly help us.

I think there's reason to be very optimistic when you consider that demographic tailwind that will continue over the next 5 to 10 years, certainly. And then when you think about just the economy itself and you look at the strength of the balance sheets of consumers and corporations, the amount of liquidity out there, combined with the depth of the housing correction, I think there's a good argument we made that the housing cycle we're in right now will be strongest of the last 3 that we've seen.

Although we have seen recent improvements in the U.S. economy, growth is relatively light and confidence remains fragile. In addition, while the market generally feels better about the tail risk in Europe, the economy is challenged.

Given the continued uncertainty in the market, we are not managing the firm with the hope that the macro backdrop will improve. We are focused on managing through a continued difficult operating environment.

We continue to be very concerned about the prospects for the financial markets and the economies of North America and Western Europe, accentuated by potential weakness in China. There continues to be a big disconnect between the financial markets and the underlying economic fundamentals.

Markets are firming. If the economy continues to expand like it is, I think you'll see the banks loosen up. And if sort of rates go up a little bit but underwriting loosens up a bit, I think you'll see similar demand, if not more. That's why we're not troubled by a little uptick in interest rates right now.

The situation in Europe is not even slightly better. It's probably slightly worse. Even if we do not have a Greece event, if you will, the environment is moving from an economic standpoint to recession. And so the mood with our clients over there is still to be thoughtful and to be very mindful about the way they invest. And when clients are thoughtful and mindful, they tend to wait a little bit more and to think further on when and how much they're going to invest.

"I think the whole thing about the 2% extra payroll tax wasn't helpful. Don't forget, in America, the average household makes $50,000. 2% is $1,000 a year. I mean, after tax, that's a hurt in their pocketbook. Gas prices have been going up. I -- and you've seen the retailer results, the Walmarts, Kmarts, Targets, Costcos of the world had, had results less than they expected, not very good. So it's weak. I don't think it's -- I'm not ready to declare it's a permanent decline or a second dip on the recession there, but it's a little nervous as far as what's going on up there."

We're really proud now that the [government budget] deficit could only be $600 billion in the year, and while that's encouraging, it doesn't do anything to fix the long-term problem, and the long-term problem is entitlements. If you take a look at the Medicare and Medicaid in particular and some on Social Security that while debt as a percent of GDP is we'll say around 75% today and under the new estimate grows to 83% by the end of the decade ... You take those same numbers, go up to the next decade and it goes to 135% debt as a percentage of GDP largely driven by the baby boomer generation retiring which no politician, Republican or Democrat, really wants to talk about. They're more than willing to say we got to reform entitlements but as soon as you say well, like what, that's when they all start to back off because they don't want to anger the voters.

I think there's a lot of concern about central banks not just in the U.S., China elsewhere, and maybe they stretched themselves out, and they played this maybe game, you want to call it for quite a while and maybe they are getting a brick wall, and the days of easy and free money may be coming to an end or at least maybe tapering off. But it probably wouldn't be good [for the global economy in the short-term], maybe good for long-term because then it would be more based upon fundamentals rather than speed injections.

I have found that by staying balanced in business and play,limitating my activities to those things I can do and knowing that is God\'s will for me today all these domestic and worldwide problems become \" ...full of sound and fury signifying nothing\"

You have not a clue rostra. The fact that out of every dollar you hold, 48 cents is debt and the more we print money we do not have increases that debt, the next call for money at the window is going to be really bad. WHAT CLASS DID YOU ATTEND? We are falling behind in the trillions on tax revenue. Fact. Nothing has been done to correct the lawlessness that created the last collapse, other than rewarding the culprits with low borrowing intrest rates. Hold on Rostra cause the incoming collapse is going to pale the last by tenfold. Money from thin air is nothing more than thin air. Do Your Homework!

\"Yet even the improvements we\'ve already achieved . . .\" Oh, really? And what \"improvements\" are you referring to? Please tells us, because I haven\'t seen any. In particular, my savings account is earning me exactly zero return, and I am retired. I was getting better interest in 1962 than I am today. Thanks \"Fed.\" Or should I say Fed-up!

I wonder how much the Wall Street trading houses paid the author and Huffington Post to write this story. Wall Street gets paid by the transaction so the more worry they spread the more trades are made and the more they make.It is too bad the press doesn't wise up to this old trick. It has been around for 150 years.